


Stranger Times

by phantomhive3108



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Mass Effect
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Fluff, M/M, Nudity, Rifts - Freeform, Sci-Fi, Tongue-in-cheek, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomhive3108/pseuds/phantomhive3108
Summary: Allow me to present my very belated submission for the DAFicswap Round 8 (Sci-Fi). This piece is for the amazing noctvrnis who recently barrelled through the Mass Effect games so I was really happy to do a little crossover featuring her incredibly handsome boys: Lloyd Trevelyan and John Shepard.The piece is slightly tongue-in-cheek and hugely indulgent vis-à-vis lore and what’s canon so apologies if that offends anyone. :P





	Stranger Times

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nocturnis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nocturnis/gifts).



Lloyd stared up at the rift. He cracked his knuckles again.

There was something different about this one.

“Maybe we should just go for it?” Varric chimed.

Cassandra tutted. “Don’t be ridiculous, the usual rifts are dangerous enough.”

“But there’s nothing coming out of this one.”

“That’s what’s weird, right, Lloyd?” Dorian tore his eyes away from the novel phenomenon to stare at his Inquisitor. Emphasis on the ‘his’. 

Lloyd stayed silent, as if not hearing them. His eyes were glued to the blue tendrils of the rift that stretched out and reached towards him, oddly welcoming. His brain wrangled with possibilities and theories but nothing they knew about rifts could explain what this was.

Varric took the silence as an opportunity to speak out loud again. “We could just be over reacting.”

“And equally that thing could kill us, or more specifically, the Inquisitor!” Cassandra was getting more nervous by minute and when she got nervous, she got snappy. Usually with Varric.

“I’m doing it.” Lloyd finally said. He chewed his lip and refused to take his eyes off the blazing blue rift that hung in the air before them.

“Lloyd, are you-”

“Yes, Dorian, I’m sure.”

“Very well. We’re… right here.”

Cassandra felt a surge a fear that she forced herself to swallow. It was not her place to question Lloyd. Besides, she trusted him, which was not an easily earned position in Cassandra’s life. Maybe that’s why her heart was in her throat. She really didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

Lloyd took a deep breath and approached the rift. It even smelled different. Rifts were usually surrounded by a deep acrid stench he associated with the demons that spilled forth from the tears in the fade. But this place… it wasn’t surrounded by any smell he could pinpoint or identify. If there even was one.

The Inquisitor’s three companions exchanged worried looks behind his back.

He took another step forward. 

The tingling started in his extremities. He looked down at his hands. The feeling was almost… electric.

He reached out with his marked hand towards the rift and-

In a galaxy far far away…

“Shepard, you have to come see this.”

Joker’s voice sounded from Shepard’s discarded omni-tool across the room.

“That sounds important.”

Kaidan’s voice was all muffled as he snuggled against the Commander.

“I really couldn’t care less right now.” He tightened his arms around Kaidan’s body.

“Uh, Shepard, you really need to see this.”

This time Joker’s voice echoed through the ship’s broadcasting system.

Kaidan laughed and untangled himself from his Commander. Emphasis on the ‘his’.

“Come on, lazy.”

“Okay, okay.” John grumbled as he was pushed and prodded out of bed.

He wandered over to his omni-tool and slid it back onto his arm.

“That’s a good look for you.” Kaidan chimed from the bed.

“I’m butt-naked.”

“My point.”

“Ha.” He tapped the omni-tool to life just as Joker’s voice called out again.

“Shepard, get the f-“

“I’m here, I’m here! Calm down.” He spoke into the omni-tool. “What is it?”

“How many times do I have to tell you, just get up here!”

Shepard frowned at Kaidan who’d also gotten up at the sound of the pilot’s voice.

“I’m on my way.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know but whatever it is it’s got Joker on edge.”

They threw their clothes on and jumped in the elevator up to the ship’s deck.

Garrus and Liara were already there, standing behind EDI and Joker’s chairs. The four of them had their eyes fixed ahead.

“Alright, what is this-”

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw why everyone was just… staring.

“EDI?”

“My readings don’t match anything previously recorded. I’m detecting high amounts of element zero so I suspect a malfunction with the relay’s core. Strangely, however there seems to be electrical discharge surrounding it, almost like a storm. Either way it’s causing all sorts of interference with our sensors.”

“It’s… fascinating.” Liara sounded almost entranced.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Garrus added.

The blue “cloud”- for all intents and purposes- had engulfed the mass relay they had been heading for. 

Kaidan stepped forward. “It has to be recent, otherwise someone would have called it in.”

“Scanning for reports of malfunctions.” EDI replied. “No reports found.”

“Okay, so we’re the first one’s to come across it. Any chance that’s really cool instead of terrifying. Because right now I feel like it’s terrifying.” Joker laughed nervously.

John patted his chair. “Hang in there, hero.”

“I know you’re trying to mock me, but that felt good.”

“You’re welcome, champ.” He grinned back.

“Yeah, that one was too far.”

“Alright, so what do we know? It’s emanating from the mass relay itself, we’ve got electrical discharge and it’s fucking up our sensors.”

“And navigation. Comms are still fine.” EDI added.

“Okay, so if comms are up put out an alert. We don’t want anyone going near these things until we know we can contain this incident.”

“If it even is an incident.” Garrus noted.

“Well, right now I don’t know how else I would put it. ‘Shit storm’ doesn’t usually go down well with most people.”

“The alert has been sent out.”

“Thanks, EDI. Right, shall we get closer?”

“Are you bloody joking?” Joker looked at him in pure disbelief.

“Why not? We put all the resources we had into this ship’s defences, that’s got to be worth something.”

“That’s my point! It is worth something! A lot! And you just want to throw my baby into the fire.”

John shrugged. “Technically it’s not a fire.”

“What would you call it then?”

“I won’t know until we get closer.”

Joker looked around for support but everyone was still just staring at the mass relay.

“EDI?”

“I can’t give you any more information from here.”

“Does no one remember what curiosity did to the cat? Anyone? No? Ugh… Jeez. Fine. I’d say it’s your funeral but it’ll be mine too. That’s on your conscience you know!”

“Put it on my tab.” John said.

His eyes were locked on the blue tendrils that twisted and turned in the emptiness of space. Something about them fascinated him. He wanted to get closer, to reach out, to just… touch them.

The ship edged closer to the mass relay until one of the tendrils brushed up against their shields… and right through it.

“EDI? What’s happening?” John scanned the boards.

“I’m not sure. It’s definitely electrical but our shields seem to have no effect against them… nor them against us. It’s passing through the walls of our ship without any effect.”

“How is that possible?” Liara whispered, voicing everyone’s thought.

“Keep going.”

This time Kaidan was the one who was unsure. “John, are you sure about this?”

“No, but isn’t that the best thing?” He sounded like a child in a candy store. Kaidan always worried when he sounded like that. Wild and dangerous adventures usually ensued.

Joker reluctantly pressed forward through the surreal cloud that closed in around them. It was as if the tendrils were wrapping themselves around the ship, still to no effect. With their sensors down it was almost as if they weren’t even there. Ghost-like.

Without warning, the cloud came to life. Electricity crackled all around, lighting up the blue fog they were now surrounded by.

“Still not picking anything up!” EDI commented.

“Am I dreaming this?” Liara said.

But suddenly those voices seemed so far away from John, as if distorted by the storm. He turned towards them but saw only blinding blue light. Before he could even react the blue light swallowed him whole and his entire vision went white.

By the time his senses returned to him, his team were all on the floor, with him. Everyone groaned as they regained their awareness.

“Inquisitor! Are you okay?”

A voice called from across the deck. John frowned.

“John?”

That was Kaidan’s groggy voice.

All at once their eyesight cleared from the blinding flash and the Commander’s crew laid eyes on four people who had definitely not been there before.

Without thinking both groups leapt to their feet, headaches be damned, and drew weapons.

Kaidan and Liara’s biotics buzzed, Garrus’ finger was wrapped around the trigger of his side-arm and EDI’s defensive matrix shimmered around her as she stood in front of Joker.

On the other side of the cockpit, Cassandra wielded her blade, Varric levelled Bianca and Dorian danced flames along his fingers.

Only Lloyd and John stood in the middle of the fray, unarmed.

“What the fresh FUCK?” John shouted.

Lloyd’s arms were out at the sides holding his companions back. “Where the hell are we?!”

The Inquisitor’s companions looked around, eyes darting across the alien apparatus surrounded them. Everything was metal and… strange.

“You’re on my fucking ship, that’s where you are, how the f-“

EDI cut through the explicits. “Shepard, the first rule of contact with an alien race-”

“I know the first rule of contact EDI but they are quite clearly human!”

“Actually, the small one’s DNA profile does not match any human records.”

“Who the fuck are you calling small?” Varric yelled back.

“Alright, alright, can everyone calm the fuck down!” It was Lloyd’s turn to swear. “Just... who are you?”

John frowned at the group before him. He stared at the man standing in front of him before replying.

“Commander John Shepard. You?”

“Inquisitor Lloyd Trevelyan.”

They nodded slightly to each other and then gestured for their teams to lower their arms.

“How did you get on my ship?”

“We tried to close a strange rift. It brought us here. I can’t explain why.”

“A rift? EDI?”

“No records. I might add that the Normandy is currently in unchartered skies.”

“What?”

“She’s right. Beyond this blue shit that’s still hanging around, I don’t recognise these stars nor have any flipping idea how we got here.” Joker added.

John turned back to Lloyd. “What’s a rift?”

“A tear in the veil that separates us from the fade.” He saw the confused look on the crew’s face. “The fade being the beyond… the place you go to when you sleep.”

“You mean when you dream?” Liara asked, taking a step forward. She lived for moments like this.

“Yes.”

“Are those biotics?” She took another step forward towards Dorian who took a step a back.

“Do you mean his magic?” Lloyd ventured. He edged slightly closer to his lover as he did so. An automatic protective instinct.

“Magic? Fascinating!”

“Liara, I think you might coming onto to them a bit strong.” Garrus called. His weapon was lowered but still in hand.

“Oh! I’m sorry.” She backed off a little.

“Alright so we’ve had a this lovely meet and greet but what now? Joker, EDI?” John asked.

“Why are you asking me?” Joker seemed appalled by the question. “Everything’s down. Comms, sensors, even the damn shields are down!”

“I believe the Normandy may have crossed into their planetary system, Shepard. If so they’ve more or less met us halfway.”

“What?!” Lloyd and John called in tandem.

“I do however believe the effect might be temporary.”

“How?” Lloyd asked.

“We’re still surrounded by this ‘rift’ as you call it. Given some time it may send us back to our original states.”

“I don’t think we’ll have to wait very long, guys!” Joker’s shaky voice had them all turning towards the front of the ship in time to see the electrical storm begin again. The rift surrounded them once more and the teams shut their eyes tight against the once again blinding light.

Within moments the Normandy reappeared before an intact mass relay with no sign of any rift.

Joker who was both holding his breath and squeezing his eyes as tight as he could dared to relax. He hesitantly opened his eyes and saw the restored transit device before him. He let out a nervous chuckle.

“Well that was something, right EDI?”

“Indeed. Although, one thing still concerns me…”

He turned to see her looking at the exact spot where once four friends and four strangers stood.

“Ugh… That’s not good.”

Joker and EDI stared at the four people left.

“Lloyd… What are we still doing here?” Dorian asked.

Back in Thedas, the blue rift sputtered to life. It sparked and flashed in irregular patterns before snapping shut and leaving four people in its wake.

John looked around at his squad and then at the unfamiliar landscape around them.

Across an incomprehensible amount of time and space two people shared one thought: “Well, shit.”


End file.
